Apple Snob

My first job when I was 15 years old was working in the produce department of a large Cleveland supermarket. My first day on the job, this older guy Ken who apparently had 4 college degrees taught me an important lesson: when you work in produce, apples are free. In fact I later learned that pretty much anything was free. All you had to do if anyone asked was to say, "Oh this one had a bruise on it," and that thing was yours for the eating. I quickly moved on to other things, and most of my days on that job involved sampling apples while Ken made us fresh lemonade with "bruised" lemons and "damaged" boxes of sugar that he took right off the shelf. We were hardcore, man.

But I think my favorite part about eating all of that free produce was that I quickly became a self proclaimed Apple Snob. There are so many different kinds of apples and such a wide spectrum of tastes, and I got to try as many as we could get. For some reason, apples were often a topic of conversation at my school lunch table (because that's what all the cool kids talk about at an all boys college prep school), and it was nice being able to tell Eric that his taste in apples sucked after he had just made fun of me during Sex Ed class. Phrases like "a red delicious is like gross apple sauce stuffed inside an apple skin" had the whole lunch table admiring my superior knowledge.

What excites me most about doing this apple challenge is the fact that I once again get to dive into the world of apples. Growing up, I was a braeburn man. Working at that store turned me on to pink ladies, which I've almost exclusively eaten until now. It's time for a change, and I'm super excited about getting back into the apple scene.

So, what kinds of apples do you folks eat?